The Little-Known Reason You Should Buy Books at the Airport

If you start Into the Water before you take off at LAX, you can totally finish it during your three-hour layover…but you forgot to buy it in advance, it’s only available in hardcover at the airport bookstore and you have to pay rent this month. Well, good news for frequent fliers: you can buy the book, then return it when you’re done for a 50-percent discount on another book. Here’s how it works.

The Read & Return program from Paradies Lagardère (the company you never heard of that runs those CNBC airport stores with candy, travel-size Advil packets and reading material) allows customers to buy a book at one of their many locations and return it within six months. So even though Into the Water will cost you $28 now, you can use your 50 percent refund to buy Anything Is Possible for $14. Score.

The catch? You need the original receipt (just use it as a bookmark so you don’t lose it) and the book can’t be too worn. Otherwise, if you still want it off your hands, you can donate it and they’ll send to a local library.

So if you love bestsellers and hate twiddling your thumbs on hours-long flights, just make the splurge. After all, you’re in a middle seat.